Guide, Snapshots
by Anyssia
Summary: Unbeta'ed! — Ficlets set in the universe of my other fanfic, Guide.
1. Too Smart For His Good

**Title**: Too Smart For His Good

**Author**: Anyssia

**Fandom**: Final Fantasy VII (Meteor Crisis, Anyssia's fanfic, Guide)

**Prompt**: prompt 167 - antapology, Taming The Muse (LJ)

**Warnings**: no sex/violence, unbeta'ed (WriteOrDie contest: 1000 words in 67 min)

**Rating**: PG

**Status**: 1278 words, one-shot, 09/29/2009

**Summary**: "He had to admit that dry, heavy and dusty volumes probably weren't a reading of choice for a fourteen years old teen."

**Notes**: This ficlet is set in the universe of my other fanfic, Guide and is a snapshot of Cloud and Vincent a few years before the actual story.

* * *

"Yeah, sure..." Cloud didn't seem convinced. "Well, I still don't understand half of this. What does 'excursus' mean anyway?"

"A lengthy digression. The author of your text is saying that he went off-topic," Vincent explained patiently.

"Oh. Ok."

Cloud went back to his textbook with a stubborn frown. He hadn't even chosen a scientific one for once but still had trouble understanding three quarters of it. He had to admit that dry, heavy and dusty volumes probably weren't a reading of choice for a fourteen years old teen.

Vincent glanced at him with an amused smile before turning back to his own book. They were both silent for a few more minutes when Cloud groaned, frustrated.

"Okay, I give up! This time it's 'antapology'. I guess he didn't just misspell 'apology', did he?"

Vincent almost couldn't suppress a laugh. "No, he didn't. An antapology is a response or reply to an apology."

"Alright, thanks. I'm still giving up, you can have my book since you seem to be able to understand it."

"Actually, I just might take up your offer. You got me curious: 'antapology' isn't exactly a common word, there are very few people using it. "

"And of course I would choose the one book in the whole library using this totally forgotten word."

Cloud hung his head, upset. He hated it, when he looked weak and stupid in front of Vincent. The man was mysterious, strong, and smart and he somehow seemed to like him.

The ex-Turk had been his first friend, or at least, the first adult that had treated him like a companion of sort and not a pariah. It was so humiliating to be reminded that he was no more than a brat next to the man.

"Don't let this disturb you, I am not lying."

Surprised by the man's words, Cloud whirled around to face him.

"Of course, you aren't! I never said that I didn't believe you!"

And now he was even more upset. Somehow he had managed to offense his friend. He really was a failure, thought the boy, lowering his head.

"That is not what I meant. You didn't accused me of anything, don't worry," Vincent clarified with a sigh. The boy was amusing and far too serious and mature for his age, but he was still a fourteen-years-old boy. "What I was trying to say, of all the people in this village, I am probably the only one who could read this book and actually understand it."

Cloud looked at him with big eyes.

"Really? Not even Tifa's father?!"

"I don't think so. They might like to treat you as a mongrel, but they are nothing more than villagers and hunters. Most of them hate you because they fear you. You are far too intelligent for them, and it scares them."

Vincent was calm, confident and logical as always but still, Cloud couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"I'm not that smart! Did you see my result at the last test?" he asked, with a wistful smile.

"Yes, I did. Tell me, Cloud. How did the teacher react, last time Nibelheim's best bullies picked on you in class?"

"Er... She didn't say anything, of course."

He was frowning again. Really, sometimes Vincent didn't make any sense.

"I will say it this way, then. During school hours, how much time do you spend learning and how much time do you spend dodging attacks?"

"Ah." This time, he did understand Vincent's point of view, but... "Okay, you're right. But I study at home. I read all my textbooks at least twice and I really thought I understood them. So I should be able to get at least a few good answers!"

He was getting pretty worked up and he shouldn't have let Vincent turn the conversation toward school work, it was such a sore point for him. So much homework and review and he still couldn't get anything right!

A gloved hand on his chin brought him back in the Mansion's secret basement.

"Stop brooding and show me your last test."

Cloud felt his eyes widen. He couldn't show to the ex-Turk how much of a failure he was. There was absolutely no way...

"Obey me."

Vincent's tone wasn't menacing or anything, but for the life of him, Cloud wouldn't have been able to disobey him.

He move back a few paces without letting his eyes stray from Vincent's, then turned around and sprinted outside the underground laboratory. He couldn't let himself think or he would never go through with this.

The boy crossed the town at a run, not caring if anybody saw him. It was night anyway and in the dead on winter, pretty much every sensible person was buried under piles of warm blankets in a comfortable bed.

Cloud stealthily entered his mother's house, listening for any sound that would tell him she was still awake. But as he had known, she was dead to the world, asleep before night's fall and wouldn't be up before long after dawn. These days, she spent more time sleeping than living.

Refusing to dwell on his mother's declining condition for now, Cloud grabbed his schoolbag and went back to the Shinra Manor as quickly as he could.

He found Vincent still in the laboratory - well, more a library now, with all the books he had dragged here from the upstairs room - and slammed his bag on the table. He had gone from mortified to angry during the few minutes he had been gone, and now he wanted to get over this as quickly as possible. Without alienating his only friends in the meantime, if he could.

Oblivious to the boy's temper, Vincent carried the battered satchel to his armchair and dropped it on his knees before rummaging around. It was easy to find the test, seeing as there were about three sheets of half torn papers pressed as neatly as possible between two trashed schoolbooks.

Every time he came across a new proof of the boy's mistreatment, it was all he could do not to go out there and show the villagers a piece of his mind. If it wasn't for this stubborn boy and the promise he reluctantly made to him, he would have gone to meet a few people months ago.

Vincent forcefully ignored these angry thoughts and concentrated on the test.

A few seconds later, he closed his eyes and again tried to stay calm. Just as he thought...

"Cloud, come here."

With an unusual shyness, the boy slowly crossed the room and stood with his back rigid and his head bowed next to Vincent's armchair. He wouldn't look at him and kept his eyes riveted to the floor, his cheeks blushing with shame.

Sighing, Vincent grabbed his chin for the second time this day, and forced him to look at the test.

"Here, here and here, you made a mistake."

Cloud moved, probably to try and hide the tears he saw glistening at the corner of the boy's eyes, but the ex-Turk stopped him.

"As for the rest, your answers were all corrects."

The boy froze for a long moment, stunned and deeply wounded. Then his eyes grew cold and he wiped his face of all emotions. After all, it was only one more betrayal amongst dozens of others.

Cloud took a deep breath and then stood in front of Vincent with a too serious expression on his young face.

"Please Vincent, would you mind being my teacher from now on?"

And maybe Vincent was a fool or a weak-willed idiot, but there was no way he could refuse the boy this.

END


	2. One True Love

**Title**: One True Love**  
**

**Author**: Anyssia**  
Fandom**: Final Fantasy VII (Meteor Crisis, Anyssia's fanfic: Guide)**  
Prompt**: prompt 168 – "Every Tom, Dick and (insert name)", Taming The Muse (LJ)**  
Warnings**: some sex/violence, unbeta'ed (WriteOrDie contest: 1000 words in 90 min)**  
Rating**: NC-17 / M**  
Status**: 1148 words, one-shot, 10/06/2009

**Summary**: "Every Tom, Dick and Vincent knows that you can only have one true love. Except, maybe not."**  
Notes**: This ficlet is set in the universe of my other fanfic, Guide and is a snapshot about Cloud's fantasies of Sephiroth and Zack.

* * *

Every Tom, Dick and Vincent knows that you can only have one true love.

Except, maybe not.

;;;

Cloud glanced discretely at Zack and shivered.

He knew this reaction; he had had it enough while staring at Sephiroth's photo he had found in the mansion. It was a plain picture, just the man in light green hospital clothes and yet he looked... Sexy.

Clear, bright green eyes and long silver hair and a wide mouth set in a strict line. Sephiroth was beautiful and inaccessible and Cloud had fantasies about his tall and muscled body.

Except that now, he also had fantasies about dark, wild hair and joyous smile and easy words.

;;;

He had had a crush on Tifa, too. An expected crush, on the most beautiful and popular girl of Nibelheim. He had wanted her and most of the time, his fantasies had begun with her and then blurred in a featureless body that made him come but never made him feel passion.

Then Tifa had left and his fantasies had stayed, except that after a short time he didn't picture her anymore but masturbated and came to the image of a blurred body from the very start.

;;;

Then suddenly he was thirteen and the boys were still chasing him so he took refuge in the ShinRa mansion. And he found out that they wouldn't follow him in there and that there were tons of interesting things in the building, but also quite a few monsters. By chance, there just so happened to have a rapier displayed other the mantle in the room he had landed in.

So he had fought and crashed and gotten hurt, but he had also won.

Then he had discovered secrets and hidden doors and clandestine laboratories. And he had read and talk to wanna-be vampires and read some more. Of course, he had fought as well and battled again and strengthened and still combated. Again, he had read and sorted reports and files and book, oh my!

And then, he had found a photograph.

;;;

It was a very bland, plain photograph of a serious faced boy. He had thought the boy to be at least twenty something, but he had found a date at the back of the picture and he hadn't needed to be especially smart to put two and two together.

A silver haired boy with bright green eyes in hospital clothes? Come on, they wrote enough about Sephiroth in those reports of theirs. And he might never have seen a real photo of the General yet, but there weren't that many people who matched this description.

So all he had needed was this date and Sephiroth's birth date that he had found in yet another file, and yes, the boy was no more than fifteen on this photo.

And then Cloud was fourteen and still gazing at this photograph and Holy Gaia, he was having an erection!

;;;

His name was Cloud, an outcast in a backwater village named Nibelheim where the main attraction was the Inn's old one-channel-television buried under three feet of dust.

He was fourteen and a half and he had been dreaming for at least three years of faceless, featureless bodies, and now he was dreaming of silver hair and bright green eyes and long fingers that stroke his skin and thin, sensual mouth against his own.

He dreamed and imagined and fantasized and all it did was burn him, more and more. It was fire and cold and ragged breaths and panting mouth and pretty moans.

It went on and on and Cloud was fifteen and staring at another picture of Sephiroth, but this time the man was twenty-three and he was the General of ShinRa's Army. He still had long, even longer silver hair and Mako green eyes, but now he also had black leather and a muscled, naked chest and Cloud was coming before he had time to realize that it was more than lust.

;;;

Sometimes, he hated. Hated Hojo and his experimentations and his detailed reports. He wanted to kill, to hurt the man just like the scientist had hurt his imaginary lover.

Cloud had lost count; he didn't remember how many times he had killed Hojo in his dreams and sometimes daydreams, nor in how many ways. Monsters, Mako, guns, swords, needles...

So many ways and so many pains for the creepy old madman.

;;;

Sixteen years old and still panting after the General.

Cloud stroke once more, to the rhythm of whispered endearments and ragged breaths and moist kisses and it was hard to imagine Sephiroth fondling his cock because his hands were warm and somehow he always imagined the man with cool, smooth skin, but still he stroke and stroke once more and said words like 'yes' and 'more' and 'faster'.

In his dreams, Sephiroth was calm but sexy. He was focused and he explored Cloud's body, again and again, and Cloud caressed and pet and murmured words like 'love' and 'beautiful' and 'forever'.

Two years it had gone on and Cloud had had at least one orgasm per day while picturing pretty silver hair and scorching green eyes and lips that kissed and nipped and moaned.

;;;

Sixteen and a half and Cloud saw for the first time the General Sephiroth.

He talked to him, looked at him, stared and memorized and then he went to bed. Yet, he didn't sleep but masturbated, again and again, until it hurt so good and he was so tired but felt so happy. He fell asleep while dreaming of cuddles and loving murmurs and strong arms around his body.

;;;

The next day, he led two SOLDIERs and a grunt to Nibelheim's reactor, up there in the mountains, and someone flung an arm across his shoulders.

Dark hair and a large grin and the man talked and teased and smiled at Cloud. Nobody smiled at Cloud.

The man's arm was warm and strong, and Cloud felt hot and hotter yet while looking at two SOLDIERs fight against a flying monster.

That night, it was long silver hair caressing his cock, but dark wild hair tickling his neck. Two men, one in front of him and one behind, and Cloud came and came, and came again.

There were three voices moaning and grunting and saying words like 'hold fast' and 'come with us' and 'Midgar is a big city, I bet they had king size beds'.

;;;

Cloud looked back, expecting something, but really there was nothing he could feel for this town.

Two gentle fingers pressed against his wrist and he turned around to face the General Sephiroth, his lover.

Then a warm hand wrapped around his neck and he looked at the SOLDIER First Class Zack Fair, his other lover.

Cloud smiled and let them pull him toward the truck and his new life.

End


	3. Elusive

**Title**: Elusive

**Author**: Anyssia

**Fandom**: Final Fantasy VII (ficlet about my other fanfic: Guide)

**Prompt**: prompt 169 – Playground, Taming The Muse (LJ)

**Warnings**: no sex/violence, unbeta'ed (WriteOrDie contest: 1000 words in 90 min)

**Rating**: PG

**Status**: 1001 words, one-shot, 10/14/2009

**Soundtrack**: Brasilian Music, AOL's radio station.

**Summary**: "They were on his heels again. Cloud snarled and ran behind yet another house, hoping to shake them off."

**Notes**: This ficlet is set in the universe of my other fanfic, 'Guide'.

* * *

They were on his heels again. Cloud snarled and ran behind yet another house, hoping to shake them off. He had been running for ten minutes already and he was beginning to tire. The other boys were still following him, taunting with nasty words and hurling sharp stones at him.

He didn't know how long he was going to be able to escape them. He had tried every hiding place and streets of Nibelheim, but they seem determined to get him today. His skin and bruises hurt, his muscles burned, the air was wheezing from his lungs and his eyes stung from the sweat pouring from his forehead.

In a desperate move, Cloud veered off course, jumping over a fence, and ran toward the mountain. It was dangerous, especially now, in winter, but he didn't want to get caught once more. He wouldn't let them win this time.

He stumbled on a treacherous rock and almost crashed on the ground, head first. With a harsh cry, Cloud straightened up and accelerated a last time. A shadow on his left startled him and he berated himself silently. He had forgotten the ShinRa mansion looming in the background, away from the village itself.

The other boys were still pursuing him and one of them was getting ahead. Cloud cursed his short legs – he was already thirteen and still shorter than most of the younger boys in Nibelheim – and began to panic. There was no way that he would manage to stay in the lead and they were going to catch him and kick and punch him and his mom would tut and tell him to stop playing too hard with his friends...

He wasn't going to cry. His eyes stung worse than before, but it was because of the sweat. He wouldn't let them catch him nor would he let them see him cry on top of that. No way.

His legs were getting heavier by the second and he was puffing and panting and still couldn't catch his breath. The mountain was too far, he wouldn't make it and...

Without thinking more, Cloud turned sharply to the left, skidding on the gravel and barely keeping his balance, and raced up the mansion's path.

The bullies chasing him shouted and put a burst of speed as well. The ShinRa hadn't wanted to mix it's scientists with the locals and the mansion had been built out of the way. The path turned on itself so that the mansion was almost out of sight from the town's center, hidden behind trees and wedged against the mountain's rock face. It would be the perfect place for them to catch him.

Cloud forced himself to ignore them, focusing on the uneven lane, blinded by fear and pain. He vaulted over the fence without breaking his stride and ran around the building.

The house hadn't been opened for years, there was no way he would be able to push the front doors, but he needed to find a way in. The other boys were cowards and wouldn't put a feet in the haunted house, but they might be riled up enough to track him in the garden.

A half rusted drainpipe caught his eye. He quickly climbed up the wall, using it as a support, and knelt of a window ledge. A couple of windowpanes were broken and Cloud sighed in relief, slipping a hand through one of the missing pane to quietly unlock the window.

He could still hear the boys arguing near the fence. They weren't in a hurry to enter the yard, as they all knew it was a dead-end. Cloud couldn't leave anymore, but he could still hide.

He threw his shoulder against the window a few times, hard. It was jammed but desperation gave him strength and he finally managed to push it open a few centimeters. It wasn't much, but it was enough for him to slip in.

Here he would be safe. Probably.

;;;

Cloud crept in the dusty room and pushed the window close. He stayed still for a while, spying outside to see if the brats would come to an agreement but after waiting over ten minutes and not seeing anyone coming, Cloud relaxed. They must have decided that he wasn't worth the bother. He turned around and took a good look at the room.

It was obviously a bedroom as there were two beds lining against the next wall. Apart from that, there wasn't much – a dresser was wedged in a corner and each bed had a night stand. For all decoration, a painting hung on the opposite wall.

The dust covered everything, hiding the colors and patterns under a thick layer of gray grit. Cloud could perfectly see his footprints on the floor and even on the wall his fingers left trails of packed dust behind. He desperately needed to sneeze but managed to hold back.

The young boy tiptoed to the bed and reached out with a trembling hand. He caught a corner of the bedspread and turned it down delicately, before wrapping it up a few times, trapping the dust inside. That done, he let it slid off the bed and sat down on the edge.

The blanket under him smelled musty and the fabric was rough, but his heart was still beating at top speed and his whole body hurt. And in any case, he couldn't leave the mansion now; he needed to wait at least an hour or two for the bullies to lose interest in him.

Cloud lay down to rest for a while, his eyes roaming around the room. It felt strange to be here and the house didn't feel haunted or anything. He could hear nothing except for his own breathing and the creaks of the hold building.

This time, he would sleep until night fall, before sneaking back home to his mother. But maybe, later, it would be worth to come back and explore the place...

End


End file.
